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花踏帰去　馬蹄香 Free translation: I took a long ride on a horse. The horse seems to have stepped on flowers on the way home. The horse’s hoofs smell sweet.

Hi Bjorn , Thought I would reply with a few thoughts - The fact that you have not had any replies to your post , says that it is difficult to make an honest opinion from the pictures . I do feel however that if the kozuka is real or not , it will prove to be a little disappointing . I may be completely wrong , but it reminds me of the kozuka that were made to be fitted with a western style knife blade and were produced in large numbers to the same pattern , often being pressed from sheet metal. I am glad you have not paid a lot of money - please take a little time to look at something like the Aoi site ( link in the commercial 2 column on NMB frontpage ) - I have just seen , for instance , item nos. F20694 & F19411 , which although a bit more expensive are the real thing and would be more satisfactory as a start for a collection. There are lots of other dealers to look at also - Aoi just happen to have a wide variety of pieces at pretty reasonable prices in my opinion. Best of Luck ! Regards

Hi guys here is another wakizashi for you in shirasaya Godai [ 5th gen ] Kaminari Yoke Iga No Kami Fujiwara No Kinmich

G'day Guys, I was lucky enough to acquire this sword recently. It is a nice sword in its own right, but it also came with some interesting provenance. Allegedly it was once owned by a Japanese army officer by the name of Zenzaburo Ishizuka. This Nobuyoshi blade was handed down to him from his father. When he went off to war, he left this one at home and took a showato with him instead. When he surrendered to American forces in the Philippines at the end of the war, he handed over the showato, while this sword remained safe with his family. The Nobuyoshi sword was never surrendered and remained with his family until it was sold. This explains the pristine condition of the koshirae. Unfortunately I don't have any real proof that this story is true. I thought I would share this story because it gives some insight into how the gunto that we love, ended up where they did. I imagine I would have done the same thing, saved the treasured family sword for special occasions and taken a less expensive showato into the field. Cheers, Bryce

http://www.guntoartswords.com/nobuyoshi.html Some more pictures here.

I have a “Joi” f/k set mounted on a wakizashi. Emphasis on the quote marks! Mine are also definitely gimei, I think. :-)

No..I'm not a nice guy. I just play one for the purposes of online interaction. I'm too tired to even go into this again. Every guy is like a stuck record: 1- I polish my own stuff 2- We tell you we don't tolerate amateur polishing here 3- You tell us how you are different, how you know what you are doing and how you polish stuff no-one else wants to 4- We point out that what you think is good, removes metal, ruins lines, opens or closes grain and does no-one any favours 5- You come back indignantly and tell us how your 5 years of welding or plumbing gives you experience 6- We ask what you know about kantei, and are you able to kantei before you polish, in order to bring out what should be shown 7- You admit you cannot kantei, and fall back on the "I'm saving ruined swords" plea 8- We point out that you are not qualified to tell what is ruined or not, and that after your work, the swords now need another polish 9- You leave in a huff, refusing to take the advice first given and just shut up about amateur polishing. This will be the 20th time? 30th time? Gets monotonous. Decide if you want to just agree to drop the subject, or if you want to go for the ban.

Guys and Gals, crazy Bob is at it again with .99 cent starts, so Trumpin what you may ask. Well, If you win the bid I will rebate you a stimulus of 10 pct off the winning bid. Wad up wid NMB you know me. Can you say Crazy Bob for Prez in 2024! Check out these Camp Lejeune area gems. Best regards, Bob P.S. there are some nice hard to find bayo's up in a few days too if you need one for your Arisaka http://ebay.us/K586Az?cmpnId=5338273189 http://ebay.us/vAQKJl?cmpnId=5338273189

Which I assumed was contemporary. Seller states over 300 years old. Your take ?? https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/x776751862

that looks like a nice Type3 Rinji Seishiki Koshirae with a valued condition. Hope you didn't damage it. The saya is leather with urushi lacquered. I bet there was a Gendaito in it. The same of the Tsuka looks great. The ito is red lacquered. Green and red colors on the koshirae looks lovely and it is rare. If you loose the screws, many members will kill you (joking) Please do not further dissamblings and pull it together without any scratches or something on the patination. And stop further hobby science - please.

Item No. 29 - Fuchi Kashira in Shakudo with highlights in shibuichi , copper and gold. Subject - not really sure , two comic figures - is this another version of Kanzan and Jittoku ? Quite nice detailing especially on Kashira. Inscribed as Joi. The figures , I think , have quite a way to go before justifying the signature . Comments anyone ? Acquired as part of a group of eight fuchi kashira.

Nice one Burno

One thing you may train your eye on is the density and regularity of the nanako. In higher-end pieces it becomes difficult to even believe that it could have been made by hand... . (NOTE: I pulled these at random from Bonhams & Christies sales, TBH I'm not even sure that they qualify as high-end).

No, nothing in the Origami concerning age.

A smaller one with two sailing ships etc.

This photo has popped up of the 100 Monmé letting rip, top left.

Hi. If you are still looking - how about this one on sale now https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRON-TSUBA-with-GOLD-SHAKUDO-SILVER-INLAYS-Wild-geese-fly-/164679464251?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286 I have bought from this seller in the past (a smaller tanto tsuba) and service was good.

For you kind comments please.... I have a tsuba which shows at least two specific characteristics: 1- Original Histsu Ana have a very funny shape looking similar to a "chinese hat" (Kantei point ?) 2- Then, they have been plugged with a very high quality shakudo (strong bkack one) which should have been expensive 3- Finnaly, one of the hitsu ana as been cut to become a kogai ana As a natural conclusion this tsuba has been used in different koshirae styles but any other explanation are more than welcome.

http://nihontocraft.com/Kunishige_Kinko_Tsuba.htm

Indeed. What counts here is that it is in fantastic condition, and the blade looks great too. Wow..what a package. Look forward to more pics. Condition is superb!

There are none so blind ... BaZZa.

The hakogaki is not for the items in the box. 小柄　笄 – Kozuka, Kogai ▢▢白鷺 – something, White heron 目貫 - Menuki ふくろう　鴉 – Owl, Crow

Very nice Koshirae, the blade would've been am old one for sure.

Thanks for the answer. I agree with you, I have a very tired kai gunto (koshirae) in my collection. And in this way I thought to solve the problem)). I'll leave it as it is and let it lie until a good moment. Sincerely, Alexander

THIS, A THOUSAND TIMES OVER! You do NOT have the expertise to diagnose a blade. You do NOT have the training to restore one. And finally, comparing cars and nihonto is erroneous in nearly every way. Nihonto require far more special care because you cannot simply replace a part of a blade as it is one piece of highly-sensitive metal. There are manuals to repair vehicles and there is a large degree to which error is permissible to still have a functioning item; this is not the case with nihonto, every micrometer of steel that is removed is a layer that cannot be restored/replaced. If you screw up by a millimeter with a car, its often fine; do that with nihonto and it could very well be ruined or require EVEN more metal to be removed to put it as the swordsmith intended. The proper answer for any out of polish nihonto is to properly oil and store it until the day comes for it to be restored or passed onto the next set of hands that may either care for it or have the proper work done. There is no wiggle room here: treat it with respect and preserve it. Here is a challenge for you Robert: take all your butchered self-cared blades to a proper togishi and let them give you feedback on what you've done; then hopefully you'll see the error of your ways.

George , Thanks for another of your invaluable contributions - I did not realise the full significance of the imagery until your post. The piece looks better in hand , with the dark shibuichi not as noticeable as in the picture . Best Regards

I have yet to see ONE of them that doesn't push back and argue, and just agrees to drop the topic and listen to reason. Also always amused that a Japanese apprentice takes 6 years plus FULL TIME to learn to polish. But amateurs think a few hours a week for a few years is enough. No Jean, I don't have patience for this anymore, unless the guys accept the fact that it is not acceptable, and agree to study Nihonto and not how to ruin them. This isn't anything directed at Robert specifically. I hope he'll agree to disagree and get back to looking at his sword. But this topic comes up too often. I'd say 3/4 of the swords in SA have had the acid treatment and amateur restoration.

This was a fine sword, right out of Neil's Treasure cave. Neil thanks god that i'm not an australien resident. I would constantly annoy you for looking on your swords

Thank you sir